Matthew 11 - Part 5

 

Read Matthew 11

In much the same way that we see in John 11 and 17, Jesus talked aloud to his Father in heaven.  He praised him for revealing the truth to those who were not rich or wise or fully vested in the world.  Those who were like children had eyes to see the truth that came through Jesus.

Jesus is affirming less to his Father than to those who might hear that the Father had vested all things in him.  Again, we see parallels to John’s gospel.  If you know the Son then you know the Father.  Only the Son knows the Father by himself.  We know the Father through the Son.

Jesus did not come to those perched in worldly authority.  He did not check in with the Roman Emporer or his governor in Judea.  He didn’t make an appointment with the Sanhedrin.  He didn’t book his stay at Embassy Suites.

John ministered at the Jordan River.  He wore strange clothes and had a unique diet, but the people came to see him.  People in search of God and his ways came to see him.

Jesus came to those same lost sheep who were searching for their shepherd.  They were weary and worn out.  Jesus came and healed and ministered and taught and those with ears to hear and eyes to see received him.

Some did not receive him.  We have already covered the woe unto you part of this chapter.  Some—not the high and mighty in this world—but the weary and worn out were seeking a shepherd.  Consider these words of Jesus that most appropriately hit this target audience.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

These are words of comfort.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

They are words of rescue.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

They are words of invitation.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

They are words that we try to make stand-alone counsel when they are coupled with other very important words that take us from his incredible rest to purpose—God given purpose—which will give us rest and assurance to our very core.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

What is it to take the yoke of Jesus?  There is the obvious metaphor.  Oxen were yoked to pull a plow. When you are yoked, you share a burden.  The task is not yours alone.  Work is required, but you don’t carry or pull the whole load.

That fits.  There is another thought or two on the matter.  The yoke is the prescribed teaching and course of study and ways of a rabbi.  Disciples were yoked to their teacher to learn God’s ways as he knew them.

Hebrew rabbis each thought that their yoke most closely aligned itself with the yoke of the Torah.  There were surely differences among rabbis.  Some might seem more restrictive or burdensome than others.  Surely Sabbath constraints and restraints were among those and would result in interesting encounters with Jesus.

When Jesus said take my yoke, he was indeed charging us—often the weary and worn out of our age—to take his ways upon ourselves.  But his charge did not end with taking his yoke.  We are to learn from him.  Salvation may come in an instant but discipleship comes over a lifetime.

We are to learn from Jesus.  We take his yoke and learn from him.  The verb here is learn.   This learning leads us to real rest.  Yes, our bodies need to rest from our labors.  We need to rest even more from our troubles, but you can’t really rest from your troubles, at least not on your own.

Now consider the last piece of this counsel.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Jesus is not asking more of us that we can do.  What he asks is so much easier than earning our salvation through our works.

What he asks is light work compared to carrying our troubles and guilt and shame and thoughts of not being good enough around with us.

His burden—what he calls us to do—is not so heavy as to scare anyone away.  His burden is light.

Our modern-day problem is that we want the peace of our Lord without his yoke. We want his rest without his yoke. We want to do things our way and feel assured and full of peace and fully rested as if we had taken on the yoke of our Master.

It’s sort of like desiring salvation without repentance. 

It’s like wishing we had faith while being anchored to our doubts.  It’s wanting to walk by sight not faith.

There is no valid reason not to take the yoke of Jesus.  He said his yoke is easy and his burden is light.  We believe him or we don’t!

Yes, there may be some hate and persecution headed our way because we take his yoke upon us, but the one who brought everything into creation can give us peace in the middle of persecution.

He can give us rest for our souls.

The problem shared among many modern-day Christians is that we try to fit the teachings of Jesus into the patterns of our lives when we are charged to learn from him.  We don’t try to make the word of God fit the world we live in.

When Paul writes that we are not to remain conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds, he is charging us to learn from Jesus.

The number of pastors and church leaders preaching to itching ears by conforming the word of God to the cause of the week is beyond belief.  Jesus said learn from him. 

We are to learn from him.  He is not asking for more than he equips us to do.  His yoke is easy.  His burden is light.  He offers rest—real rest that cannot come from what the world can give.

We must not give in to learning the ways of the world.  We must not reinforce the learning that runs counter to the teachings of Jesus.  We must learn from our Teacher, Master, and Savior. 

This entire chapter has a theme of rejecting Jesus in favor of our own understanding, our own expectations, and our own desires.  Reread the chapter once more with this thread in mind.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Jesus tells us in the middle of the craziest year most of us have ever known, that he offers peace and rest and assurance.  We come to him and we learn from him and we put his words into practice.

We set aside our personal expectations of what God should do, what the government should do, and what our friends and neighbors should do and we just trust God like never before.  We do things his way and enjoy his peace and rest.

It’s not too hard for us.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Amen.